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Mount Kennett SkatePark is the city centres only dedicated skatepark

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Mount Kennett SkatePark – the skatepark is host to a diverse crowd pictured above who gather to create and connect. Picture: Tony Clancy

 

Mount Kennett SkatePark is the city centres only dedicated skatepark

By I Love Limerick correspondent Mary Caroline McCarthy


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Mount Kennett is Limerick city centre’s only dedicated skatepark, which has been situated at Mount Kennett Place for almost thirteen years.

Mount Kennett is a fun concrete park that is definitely worth a roll if you’re in the area and love to skate. It has some fun looking obstacles and includes a few hips, stairs, ledges, rails, and many more things for you to enjoy while skating. The park is located just off Dock Road next to Shannon Bridge.

Mount Kennett SkatePark was opened way back in 2008, it took years of campaigning for the city to agree to a skatepark, but they stuck to it and succeeded. The then Mayor, Cllr John Gilligan cut the ribbon at the skatepark facility, which has been widely used since by skaters from Limerick and surrounding counties.

Former councillor Tom Shortt was a driving force behind its opening, working to secure it since 2004. He said, “It took quite a while. It was a slow process to get a council committee. It was clear the time there was a need for skateparks among teenagers.”

Before its opening, boarders used to skate around shops and on paths annoying business owners and pedestrians who were trying to go about their normal days.

“It was a problem, but they literally had nowhere to go. They used to be up at the Locke Bard, and Tait’s Clock, in front of the new Dunnes Stores and it led to clashes with shop owners,”

In August 2009, one year after its opening, the skate park was the venue for the first-ever All-Ireland Skate Championships to be held in Limerick.  The All-Ireland Skateboarding Championship is a big day for skaters all over Ireland. Competitors from all four provinces gather to take part, some even travel from Britain to take part.

It is still a strong event to this day and the fact that the first event was done in Mount Kennett is a great show of how great a skatepark it is. The park is busier than ever, packed with teenagers from skateboarders to dancers enjoying its facilities and using it as a place to socialise and connect. An older generation of skaters now in their early twenties who campaigned to get the park built have been joined by a new wave of talented young skateboarders from around the city making full use of the park every day, especially during the school holidays.

There is, of course, an age limit to the people who can use the park, you must be ten plus to try the park and it is asked that you wear all protection gear available should you decide to go to the park such as helmets, knee pads, and others. It is a free park and is completely outdoors which gives you a lot of space to work with.

It can be used for beginner skaters and seasoned skaters. It is important that you all stay aware of each other and mind yourselves when using the Mount Kennett SkatePark.

You can be guaranteed that Mount Kennett will continue to provide skaters with a place to go for many more years.

 

For more about Mount Kennett, go HERE

For more stories on community go HERE 

Richard is a presenter, producer, songwriter and actor. He was named the Limerick Person of the Year (2011) and won an online award at the Metro Éireann Media and Multicultural Awards (2011) for promoting multi-culturalism online. Richard says that the ilovelimerick.com concept is very much a community driven project that aims to document life in Limerick. So, that in 20 years time people can look back and remember the events that were making the headlines.